Almagro, Davydenko reach Malaysian Open QFs

Top-seeded Nicolas Almagro and five star Nikolay Davydenko recorded second-round wins Thursday at the $850,000 Malaysian Open, which is part of the Asian swing on the ATP World Tour.

Almagro snuck past fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos in a pair of tiebreaks, 7-6 (7-2), 7-7 (7-4), while the fifth-seeded Russian Davydenko edged out Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) on the indoor hardcourts at Putra Stadium. Davydenko captured the inaugural Malaysian Open title two years ago.

Up next for Almagro will be eighth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori, while the veteran Davydenko will encounter third-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic in Friday's quarterfinals. Tipsarevic handled Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-4, while Nishikori outlasted German Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 on Day 4 here.